Be honest – when was the last time you read a non-fiction book cover to cover? Would you rather watch a TV show than actually read a good book?

You should know by now you’re not the only one. While it’s not always as entertaining as watching a movie, reading must be a part of your growth strategy.

If you’re an entrepreneur, you should definitely read some business books too. If you lack the time to sit and read, you can listen to them while you are on the road instead. Audiobooks are also an excellent companion for your runs or long walks.

You might wonder why in the world you’d spend your time reading when you could be doing something more productive. For example, you may think that spending time finding your next client would be a better use of your time.

While prospecting is essential, you’ll be able to improve your results for the rest of your life if you read a couple of books on prospecting.

There are tons more reasons why you should read business books and in this post, we’ll discuss the main reasons.

1. Improve Your Life

A book is a powerful external force that can transform your life. It can change the way you look at things and allows you to be humble. While you’re reading, you’re also allowing the writer to share his or her lessons and experience with you. You’re telling the author that you’re ready to learn and asking, “What can you teach me?”

2. Learn From Other People’s Mistakes

What’s better than learning proven business strategies from already successful people? You get to learn from their mistakes without going through their pain. In most cases, you’ll also see how to avoid those costly mistakes and what to do instead.

You can save hours, days, or even months if you apply everything you learn to your own business. From Meera Kothand’s book, The One Hour Content Plan, I learned about the Driver of Change. This made me realize all my previous mistakes about content creation. I started to produce better content for my readers immediately after applying this concept.

3. Solves a problem

Certain books are specifically for solving an immediate problem. One of the best examples is The Positioning Manual by Philip Morgan. This book helped me decide on my specialization. Before reading it, I was completely confused. Yet, after going through the content, I was more confident with my choice.

Problem-solving books are basically a huge how-to resource packaged into one comprehensive document and, instead of going around looking for various articles, you get it all in one place.

4. Boost your Problem-Solving Skill

“In business, you try to solve problems.” – Bob Corker

Reading business books lets you accumulate a lot of knowledge. It makes you cautious yet brave when you’re facing a problem. You may realize that you’ve solved an issue with the help of that book you read a month ago on marketing, for example.

It happens to me all the time. When I have a business problem to solve, I often think back to what my favorite author would do in this situation. Then, I take the appropriate actions.

5. Enhance your Creativity

As you well know, creativity is everywhere. So, you should find some inspiration even in non-fiction books. Remember that, as an entrepreneur, you’re working with people. This means you can get all the hints you need from authors to better understand your clients.

6. You Invest in Your Future

A book read today is like currency for your future. Choosing the right books and spending your time reading them is an investment with huge returns If you want to become a successful business owner, you have to work on your own personal growth and development. Self-help books are perfect for this.

Reading a book is like having a mentor with you 24/7. Most of us wouldn’t be able to hang out with popular authors. They’re either dead or too expensive for mentoring. However, by reading their books, you can have them advise you every step of the way.

7. You Never Stop Learning

Continuous learning is important for every individual, and it’s even more critical for business owners. Yet, we often have the least free-time to learn. With books, you can stay connected with lifelong education.

Sure, you can learn a lot from reading articles like this one, but a book is a complete work. It tackles a topic in its entirety, from various angles. The best business books are filled with lessons from a plethora of industries.

8. Enhance Your Self-Confidence

“By re-educating the mind, you can accept fear as simply a fact of life rather than a barrier to success.” – Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway

Business books will show you that a lot of people failed many times before achieving success. You’ll see that failure isn’t something you should be afraid of. Through the struggles of now fruitful authors and business owners, you can learn how to become more self-confident and be encouraged to focus on your main goal.

Whether you recently started your business or you’ve been in it for years, your self-confidence is crucial. When you’re confident, you can charge your worth and choose who you’d like to work with.

9. It Helps Decision-Making

When you’re faced with a dilemma, it can be paralyzing. The best thing to do is make a quick decision and stick with it. Books definitely help with that. It doesn’t matter if most of the book is motivational fluff. If it gives you enough information to make a decision, it has done its job.

One of the best books that helps me with decision-making every day is The One Thing. It gave me a framework to choose between different options and be certain about my choice.

10. It Improves Your Focus

There are a lot of business books talking about how to improve your routine for better focus. For example, finding ways to stay on track and focus on your clients when you’re on an important project. With the right books, you’ll learn how to be even more productive.

Deep Work by Cal Newport does just that. It makes a complete case for working for long periods without distractions.

Also, reading a book requires deep concentration itself. This concentration strengthens your attention span as you dive into the author’s world.

11. It Enables You to Take Action

You shouldn’t simply absorb information but also take action. This means that you have to make the most of what you’re reading and try to apply all those tips in your business.

Grant Cardone is a huge advocate of selling over the phone and in-person. After each chapter in his books, he has a ‘take action’ section. He tells you a few things you can do right now to apply what you learnt. I landed a new project by taking up his advice and sending a message to a past client. I was also able to muster the courage to ask a doctor out for a business lunch, something I could have never done on my own.

12. It Allows You To Think From Different Angles

Let’s face it. You’ve always seen things from your own perspective. Books can and will challenge this tunnel-vision. For a long time, I believed that I should bill by the hour. Hourly Billing Is Nuts by Jonathan Stark shook this belief out of me.

He taught me the concept of value pricing from various angles, especially from my clients’ point of view. Once I realized that I was no longer afraid to value price my services.

13. It Motivates You

It’s easy to lose motivation when you’re stuck in a never-ending cycle of feast or famine. Even in periods of feast, you can lose your motivation and see the quality of your work go down. Books can help you stay motivated. Some books are better at this than others.

When I read a book and it talks about my “Why”, my reason for doing everything that I do, I’m instantly motivated to go out and do even more. Every now and then I need those reminders, and the best reminders are my books.

“When you’re looking for inspiration… in order to have a breakthrough, you have to look outside your industry.” — David Kelley

So, what I challenge you to do is to go outside of your industry. Step outside of your comfort zone and try to read or listen to some business books. I can guarantee that they will help you in one way or the other.

You’ll find inspiration in other people’s stories about their businesses.

What’s your opinion on reading business books now, after you’ve read my 13 reasons? How many business books will you read next year? Let us know in the comments below.

About the author

Umar Bahadoor

Umar started freelancing over a decade ago, and he now helps other professionals start profitable businesses on the side without quitting their jobs. He has built his primary business from the ground up without any investment, and now he only focuses on managing the high-level activities. You can do the same, follow Umar for advanced tips and tricks on how to start your own side hustle the right way!